I stumbled upon this work by Sergey Knyazev and it immediately made me wish that he would illustrate everything Tolkien ever wrote. His style is so unique and so full of magic that it would be an interesting pairing with Tolkien's text (I think there is a lot of the same "spirit" that tolkien had in his own illustrations, even if it is more decorative and not as simplistic here).This is the painting I'm talking about (sorry if the link is not clickable, haven't quite figured that one out yet):

http://knyazevsergey.deviantart.com/art/Lord-of-the-rings-286010166

What are your favorite (fan)artists that haven't yet illustrated Tolkien (officially, as in a book that has been published), but whom you would love to see illustrate the stories and bring middle-earth to life in a unique way?

I wish I could see more Middle-earth art from the late Frank Frazetta.

As for living artists, Robert Gould would doubtless have a nice take on Tolkien. 'There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.' - Gandalf the Grey, The Fellowship of the Ring

of the painted miniatures on lacquered boxes produced at Palekh, which have a very distinctive style that might work well for Middle-earth. It's dynamic but stylized and archaic, as if it might be something produced at the time of LOTR rather than a modern interpretation. If you search "palekh" or "palekh art" in Google Images, it brings up lots of examples.

the illustrations that Pauline Baynes did for Farmer Giles? Very attractive. But I think she's dead now. If you don't know her work, she's the one who did the original illustrations for the Narnia books; and at least one cover for an edition of LOTR, and (I think) a poster-map of Middle-earth, though I may be misremembering that. (Am I? - does anyone else remember this?)

from among artists along the Paths of the Dead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_LeightonThey that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.

I was not familiar with Pauline Baynes. So, thank you for that. I googled her and her style is very attractive like you said. There's a similar kind of charm to it than in Tove Jansson's (the creator of the Moomins) work. Tove is one of my absolute favorite illustrators/authors, and her illustrations for the Hobbit are my favorite illustrations for that book. They have a strange, beautiful and mystical quality to them that is absolutely beautiful and captivating to me.

His King Arthur illustrations are stunning, and I really think his style would lend its self really well to Tolkien's work.

And I would love to see the Silmarillion illustrated by Hayao Miyazaki.

It is a shame that Miyazaki has recently retired from animated film. I could still see him adapting The Hobbit into a manga (japaniese for comic book or comic strip). 'There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.' - Gandalf the Grey, The Fellowship of the Ring

Now I really want to see Hayao Miyazaki Middle Earth manga. When I read the Silmarillion I basically imagened Haleth as Nausicaa, so I've been imagining it in his style for a while now. I can see The Hobbit working really well in his style too.

Out of curiosity, do you know if there are any graphic novel addaptions of Tolkien's works?

Out of curiosity, do you know if there are any graphic novel addaptions of Tolkien's works?

I only know of one (and a half). There is the condensed and illustrated version of The Hobbit that appeared in the UK magazine Princess in the 1960s. But, I'm not sure if that has been collected or if it properly counts as a graphic novel.

More properly, there is the adaptation of The Hobbit originally serialized by Eclipse Comics in 1989 and 1990. Adapted by Charles (Chuck) Dixon with Sean Deming, and illustrated by David Wenzel, the book is still in print (for $20 SRP in US currency) from Ballantine Books. This is the current printing.

I don't know of any other full, comics adaptations of any other Tolkien works. The Lord of the Rings, alone, would be quite a challenge--to say nothing of The Silmarillion. 'There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.' - Gandalf the Grey, The Fellowship of the Ring

More about the condensed serialization of The Hobbit in Princess magazine. The story was broken up into 15 segments that were published weekly from October 10, 1964 to January 16, 1965 with illustrations by Ferguson Dewar. You can read an article about the project here.

It doesn't look like the project has ever been collected into a single volume. I would say that the time is ripe. Wouldn't you? 'There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.' - Gandalf the Grey, The Fellowship of the Ring

I don't particularly want a copy for myself, but I imagine that others feel much differently. I does seem that the condensed text could use a quick polish. 'There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.' - Gandalf the Grey, The Fellowship of the Ring

That ent and that dragon look stunning! Thank you very much for the link. I haven't heard of Ian Miller before, but I must say he is one of my favorites now. His style seems very unique and organic. Beautiful.

I love Russian icon and fantasy art (wish I would have been able to snag the encyclopedia with gods and such.)

That black rider is great.

Glad you enjoyed Ian Miller's art. The man can get pretty dark, but his style is amazing and extremely detailed. His stuff with trees and fish are particularly good. He did backgrounds for the Ralph Bakshi movie Wizards too.